Child In Time
by Morphine Dementia
Summary: The famous end battle suddenly turns around as instead of winning the main four is sent into the future! Their ways part; they must gather themselves again if they want to finish what they started 200 years ago. AllenLenalee, side LaviYu, AU, parody, modern, crack, wtf.
1. Enter Tomorrow

**AN:** I had this idea for a while, and finally decided to go for it. This isn't supposed to be all so serious, but it isn't completely crack either. Does PARODY ring a bell? Basically, I'm making plotholes in canon (yes I'll be disregarding some new revelations as well as the Earl's all-crushing firepower) so I can have some AU drama; I do hope you will find this appealing. Look at it as a sci-fi explanation if you must. If you think the start of the plot is lame, well..it is; but that's not what's important here, I just needed to get to the point where I knew what I want to do, while making fun of the way such things are _usually_ taken care of. Also I must confess that I'm a terrible lazyass though so this is going to be moving slowly (very slowly..like every few months), but that's better than nothing, right?

So yeah, unlike it could be expected from a long fic by me, the main pairing in this is actually Allen/Lenalee. Well, Allen is the main character and all. Lavi/Kanda is also there; but as for explicitness, it's really more of a comical relief than anything else, so yeah, if you're not a guy/guy fan, you should still be able to read this without cringing, and maybe with actual laughing, as they don't really play any other than the family and the gay sidekicks role here.

Also, part of the idea of this fic was that I wanted to contradict the most common opinions on 'What would they do if they weren't Exorcists?'. No really, WHAT if Lenalee wasn't a housewife, Kanda wasn't a Soba/Dojo master, and Lavi wasn't a Bookman? Life doesn't always turn the way you want, after all. What if they had to resort to commercials, sharlatanism, selling cheeseburgers or even being homeless? You are going to see something new very soon.. So this is meant to amusingly widen people's view, while providing some actual dramatic material about the ever-changing world at the same time.

I hope you like it.

**Summary: **OMG TIME TRAVEL FIC. During the final battle with the Earl, things suddenly turn around as the OT4 is sent through a wormhole and into the modern world! By the time Allen manages to escape the in-between-dimensions, everyone else is already adapted to the new world and..have forgotten how to fight. While they need to gather again and finish what they had started 200 years ago, for the timer on the (zomg magical) lock of the Earl's chamber in the Ark is about to run out!

**Pairings: **Allen/Lenalee, side Lavi/Kanda.

**Warnings:** Language, sexual implications, alcohol, ... Also, beware of parody which might appear unexpectedly, even if I don't intend it to be offensive.

**Disclaimer: **-Man and lovely characters belong to Katsura Hoshino. Title and lyrics below belong to Deep Purple.

**AN2:** Oh and.. It be January 22nd. HAPPY ALLEN/LENALEE DAY !

::

::

::

_**CHILD IN TIME**_

::

_Sweet child in time you'll see the line_

_The line that's drawn between the good and the bad_

_See the blind man shooting at the world_

_Bullets flying taking toll_

_If you've been bad, Lord I bet you have_

_And you've been hit by flying lead_

_You'd better close your eyes and bow your head_

_And wait for the ricochet _

::

::

**Chapter 1 : Intro / Enter Tomorrow**

::

He clenched her hand more tightly as she jumped and dashed past the remaining moving forms of Akuma towards the man who was responsible for all of this, determination on her face. This war has taken so many of whom she loved, and her home, and everything, including the person who was the most important to her in the world; she was not going to lose the small remains of her family, and she was not going to let the evil get away again, not after it took her brother away.

The Earl had to pay.

Allen gritted his teeth, ready to pull the sword out as soon as Lenalee dropped him by the Duke of Millenium. All of the other Noah were gone now, and so were all of their friends, but there was always time for grieving later. Right now they had to finish this, finish it so all the sacrifices would have not been in vain.

They heard the all so familiar slashes and crashes behind them that signified Kanda and Lavi were still fighting off the Akuma in order to allow them battle the Earl uninterrupted. They were soldiers and were still alive unlike the others, they could deal with this; if any of them started worrying right now all could have been lost. The numbers of demons were decreasing; they no longer held the infinite power that once made them so formidable, and these had to be the last ones left - that thought was encouraging, despite the fact that there were still too many of them.

It was a surprise even the four of them had made it, when some of the strongest ones were taken out even before the war broke out by full force. Or maybe it was fate?

"Now," Allen shouted over the noise of Akuma machinery and the other two remaining Exorcists' weapon clanging, raising his head for a moment to see Lenalee nod with an expression full both of despair and determination, and for a moment, their eyes met.

::

_"Brother says the Earl has moved out. In the open, as if _calling _us to the battle," she said looking up at him. "Not using the Ark or anything. They're just..coming. I don't understand." This had to mean the end was near, but she refused to believe it. It was threatening her home. She had to do everything in her power to protect it._

_Allen bit his lips and shook his head, looking rather thoughtful. "So it's come to this," he mumbled. "I guess it means it's really the end of the war soon.." All those years of waiting for this, he never thought actually having it in front of him would feel so.. empty._

_"One way or another." _

_He looked at the girl with surprise. "It's not like you to be pessimistic, Lenalee," he mumbled, a little hesitantly pulling her closer. He didn't like it, it made him feel like a lump was stuck in his throat, and moreover, he worried about the girl more than anything else. "What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing," she mumbled, leaning against him with a sigh. During the three years she knew him, she had gotten so grateful for having him, and in the end they meant more to one another than they knew. "Just that.. I talked with Miranda yesterday. She said she has a bad hunch about this. What if we lose?"_

_Allen stroke her hair lightly, forcing himself to believe everything was going to be fine, because if he didn't believe, no one would. By now he had already become the hope of all of them. He couldn't allow himself to linger from that path._

_"We'll win, Lenalee. I promise."_

::

He was on the verge of breaking a promise once again, and he couldn't let that happen. Not when it concerned Lenalee. He didn't mind the old man's love to the doll, Kanda's scorns and other people's deaths more than it was necessary, even if it still made him feel bad, but a promise to Lenalee was entirely different. He couldn't prevent all those sacrifices, but at least he could try and put an end to this.

Air whistled past his ears as he fell towards the plump figure that was standing alone on a huge piece of rubble, calm in the centre of the battle like in they eye of a hurricane despite the fact that the hurricane was less than a small swirl now as most of the forces were already defeated. But Allen didn't care much about it at this point; he narrowed his eyes, his arm turning into a sword, while Lenalee circled them, ready to attack the final remaining First Apostle from the other side.

The both of them could still have a future.

::

_"This is our first night," she mumbled into his ear, settling against him more comfortably as he got back to the bed after opening the window so that fresh air would blow out the smell of sweat, concentrated from what they had done earlier. She still seemed a bit sad, though. "Yet it could be the last one, too. Promise me you won't die, Allen."_

_It was so warm there under the blanket, being curled up against each other like that, skin to skin, able to feel each other's heartbeat, sharing each other's warmth and embrace..._

_"How could I?" He wasn't going to leave the girl he loved alone, could he? Not after he asked her to marry him after his 19th birthday, and though they didn't move past engagement yet, Lenalee had decided they could do _it _already. Well, she _was _older. And at this point, Allen didn't mind; they _were _going to be husband and wife soon anyway, so this wasn't just as illegal, well at least his life wasn't threatened by giant robots, unlike just a few months ago. He never imagined it would happen on their last night home, though. It felt almost like a goodbye, and he didn't like it. "Of course I promise."_

_"You'd better keep that promise," Lenalee muttered, pulling the blanket around them tighter and enjoying the feel of Allen's body against hers. Her eyes glinted almost mischievously for a moment, despite of the overall gloomy mood, "At least until I'm Mrs. Walker, that is."_

_"That's cruel, Lenalee," Allen complained, though a smile flashed on his face for a moment and he moved his hands over the girl again, tickling her lightly for punishment before simply holding her close. She giggled a little at the touches, then silenced, resting against him._

_They _were _going to win, and they _were _getting married, and living peacefully afterwards. He refused to believe any other possibility._

::

The sword was blocked by its look-alike, and the Earl's grinning face was now inches from Allen's. Despite of having lost all of his supporters, the fat man looked just amused as ever; almost as if everything was going right according to his plan and nothing could interfere with it, as if everything that has happened before was supposed to lead the events to this particular day.

"Allen Walker," he said lovingly as the white-haired boy pressed at the sword harder, looking almost as furious as that white Innocence-mask of his. "You are too special to be left alive."

That was quite ridiculous to hear from a man who was now a stand-alone in the battle, yet his expression and tone made Allen wary. If something was up, he'd better not let his guard down. "I'm afraid I'm going to destroy you, Earl," he said in a, surprisingly, rather calm voice and backed off, swinging the sword at the Duke with a new force while a flash that was obviously Lenalee launched to attack from the opposite side.

"Please do."

The girl ricocheted off the Earl like a light rubber ball as if there was an invisible shield around him, and skidded over the scene's surface before managing to stop, luckily having landed on her feet. What just happened? The man's grin seemed to grow wider as the white-haired boy in front of him withdrew the sword and in moments attacked with the claw, slicing the Duke's sword in half, however the latter's happy expression didn't linger.

"If you can, that is."

::

Lavi was crying.

He might have been a Bookman's successor, but at the same time, Bookman was like a family to him. He tried telling himself that the old man would have croaked it soon anyway, but every time he remembered him he couldn't help but feel tears float out of his eyes. The old man was taken down at the very beginning of this battle, before everyone else; it was quite gruesome but Lavi wasn't going to remember that now. What was stuck in his mind forever, though, were the Bookman's last words.

No, it wasn't anything clear nor emotional, though Lavi knew the old man cared about him just as much as he did, if not more. But maybe the impartiality of it, or maybe the hidden meaning that Lavi was sure he noticed, was making it all the harder to bear.

_'Lavi.. _You _will record the ending of this battle.'_

The ending of it.. the redhead knew this was the same as a good luck wish for him to survive through it, but the way it was said just made him adore his profession more. That and he had just lost what was both like a teacher and like a grandfather to him, and all together it was just a bit too much for him at the moment.

Tears made it hard to see.

::

Kanda wondered what has gotten into the idiot; he had to block quite a few incoming Akuma shots that the redhead didn't seem to be aware of. Was he trying to get killed over that old man's death? Pathetic. Kanda had lost his General a while ago, but never did he let any emotion unfit for a warrior cross his face, even if it did leave him somewhat upset despite of telling himself there was no reason to be. Such was the war.

Either way, the battlefield was the worst place to display any sort of feelings, and Lavi had clearly forgotten it.

They heard some loud battle crashes from where Allen, Lenalee and the Earl were. Those three had become so powerful over the years, it was almost scary. And so both Lavi and Kanda knew the best they could do to aid was keep fighting off the smaller foes so they wouldn't distract the others from the more important job; yet neither of them would have admitted to that - pride was insisting otherwise. Still, it was their job to do right now.

They briefly shared a glance, for some reason both turning their eyes away almost the same moment as if caught with something that couldn't be caught in a battle, and stepped back to back, blasting off the incoming attackers with new determination.

::

_"Yu."_

_He stopped right next to his door and looked back, with his eyebrow raised in an impatient manner, though he honestly didn't mind staying out there with the redhead for a little more. After all, they were supposed to be 'friends', and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it through the upcoming battle. it would need a lot of Innocence power, after all, and that came with a cost. Well, it wasn't really anything to get sentimental about; he always knew it would come to this. "What."_

_"You think you might not make it, right?" Green eye was practically gazing into his soul right now. ..What a stupid metaphor. _

_"What shit are you on?" He wasn't going to admit something that didn't matter. Just where did Lavi dig this up from, anyway? The redhead didn't seemed phased though, almost if he _knew _it for sure and simply asked to make Kanda acknowledge it, too._

_The redhead simply stepped closer, looking at him rather sadly. "Even if this gonna be the last thing I say, Yu, I still wanna say it. Don't die." It sounded like he was asking._

_Was it even possible to control something like that? "Whatever," Kanda gave his usual reply of agreeing, however something stopped him from just walking away as he stepped forth too, words strangling themselves out of his mouth. "Same to you."_

_Their lips touched for a mere second, then they simply stepped away and hastily walked in opposite directions._

_'If I'm going to die, it's better if the last new experience was with someone I _don't _hate,' Kanda thought as he walked away._

_'If I'm going to die, it's better if the attachments I hold important know that I do', Lavi thought as he walked away._

_Neither of them spoke of it again._

::

Neither of them spoke of it again, not while waiting for the enemies, not in the battle, not now when it was nearing the end. It was enough that they knew.

"That's it," Kanda grunted as their last combo attack blasted off the remaining Akuma while Lavi seemed to have managed to finally stop snivelling over the inevitable. They were probably supposed to head to the top of the rubble where the other fight was taking place; they could see the white lashes of Crown Clown stretching over and crashing into the ground, Sprout was probably finally moving into offence. About time he'd gather the balls to actually kill that ridiculous fat man that had caused all this trouble.

"Let's go," Lavi agreed, and they rushed towards the slowly setting cloud of dust that signalled where the last attack had come from.

::

They barely managed to fall to the ground as Lenalee's loud "Take cover!" echoed through the blood and dust soaked air as she fell on the Earl with crushing force once again. White strands mercilessly stabbed the new cloud of dust.

So maybe it wasn't the best idea to come here.

Suddenly, a shockwave went through the air; it was almost sinister, as much as such a thing could have a character, and Lavi, Kanda and Lenalee found themselves unceremoniously thrown around the circle which marked the Earl's location before Lenalee's attack connected. Allen managed to remain standing on the edge of the crater, though he didn't understand what was happening.

As the dust settled, the Earl emerged from the middle of the pit, seeming unharmed, just having lost his hat and now displaying the handsome pair of shiny horns that were sprouting from the top of his head. He giggled.

Lavi didn't even feel like throwing an innuendo; he simply stared, and so did the other three. However the Duke himself seemed to only register the presence of Allen Walker.

"Brother," he said gleefully, his glasses glinting a little bit, "You have been branded as the Destroyer of Time, however you don't have any idea what it means. And that's why you won't survive."

Allen was catching his breath from the fight, but that weird blabbering was getting to him more than enough not to keep silent. "You're one against us four, Millennium Earl," he pointed out. "Your allies are finished. Do you really think you have a chance?"

"Finished," Earl's grin grew twice more, "Yes, at the moment yes. But you seem to forget something...what matters at the moment, does not matter to me. I am the Alchemist who travels Time, after all. I'm afraid ignorance is going to be your downfall by your own power, Allen Walker." As he spoke, the world around suddenly went dark.

"-What?"

"We'll meet sooner than you think," the Duke sang as his form stretched, suddenly becoming tall and thin, and in a moment was sucked into what looked like a giant vortex just having opened in the air above them.

The four Exorcists stared up dumbfounded.

"What the fuck-"

No one managed to say anything else as they were suddenly pulled in, and the world disappeared.

::

It was dark, very dark, and it felt like they were being pulled through nothingness at a great speed, views and sounds mixing into unreadable chaos that seemed to have no beginning nor end. Maybe it felt a little like dying. Or like a giant vacuum cleaner, even if they couldn't compare it to that at the moment. Either way, it was dazzling and dizzying, and in the end when neither knew where was up and where was down, they were spit out.

::

Lenalee opened her eyes. She was laying on something cold and rough, and she quickly got up. Next to her there was Kanda, already sitting up and staring up, and a little further away she spotted Lavi rubbing his head. She frowned a bit and followed Kanda's gaze.

Huge blocks of concrete - she assumed they had to be houses of sorts - were rising over their heads all the way up she could see, almost as if they were meant to reach the heavens. The faint street lamps - that looked only a little different from normal ones - didn't light it enough to be able to tell. All the ground seemed to be covered by concrete or some similar substance as well, and something seemed to be flying far up, something with moving lights..

And then there were sounds. Horrible, loud sounds that didn't seem to stop even for a moment. Roaring, clanging, bumping, crashing, screeching, you could hear several alarms in different distances, and slowly overwhelming it all, there was the chucking sound that seemed to come from the flying metal monster with lights, which disappeared into the distance as unexpectedly as it appeared. The other sounds didn't seize, and a different alarm was sounding down along with strange squeaking - as if someone was braking, just a lot more loud.

"What the fuck," Kanda repeated, dazed, staring up at the skyscraper as if he was seeing God face to face for the first time in his life.

"Where are we?" Lavi mumbled, looking around with an expression of fear yet curiosity at the same time, and walked up to the other two.

Lenalee, however, realized something much more important once the initial shock subsided a little, what was much in this scary world they got thrown into. She shivered lightly, and Kanda hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder, and all three of them just stood there, practically clinging to each other out of fear, foreign sounds and giant blocks of living space towering over them, as she finally spoke.

"Where...where's Allen?"

He wasn't there.

::

::

**End Chapter**

::

Yay cliffhangers. Hope to update this...eventually. And hope you didn't hate the into so much as to not come back to read what happens next. :3


	2. The Unlucky Boy

**AN:** SCREW YOU FFNET. THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME FOR ADVERTISING YOU AS MY FAVORITE FANFICTION HOSTING SITE DESPITE OF ALL THE CRAP THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE? Turns out my usual scene transaction mark "-" was removed. Completely. All of my stories got mangled into blocks of paragraphs that made no sense without being separated into parts. I had to re-upload and re-fix everything. EVERYTHING. When I could have been writing. It positively sucks. I switched to "::" for now, but if it gets removed too, then GRAH. I might just start typing a random word for scene transactions, something like "mulligatawny" or "gaylorious" or "eyjafjallajokull" or something. Ugh I am so very displease.

Alright, onto the fic!

I have a surprise for you: actually, Allen is the main character of this fic, what means we will mostly be following HIS point of view. So if you were expecting the survival show and detailed adventures of Lenalee, Kanda and Lavi in the urban concrete jungle, I'm sorry to disappoint you - I'm afraid you won't be finding out just how it went back when they arrived to that time until further ahead in the story. Some day, some day.

And I think I sort of suck in Allen. Well, at least I haven't written him as much as the other three, yeah. So if you think I buthchered him justice somewhere, criticism is welcomed. Also I know shit of how modern pirates run things, so forgive me if the portrayal isn't 100% correct. : D

Oh and, OMG. THERE'S ACTUALLY PLOT WAT.

Oh and also, I don't plan this to be very long, maybe around 10 chapters or so, so yeah, it's probably going to move rather quickly, hope you don't mind. So here goes~

::

* * *

::

**Chapter 2 : The Unlucky Boy**

::

Captain Daniel Agamata inspected the incoming cargo ship through his binoculars, lightly chewing on a cigarette which's brand reflected his Western descent. He wasn't concerned about the possible crossover of the ships' trajectories, that actually was what they planned. In fact, he wasn't even a real captain - not officially that is; the small, fast ship he was in command of and his crew, including himself, all of it wasn't registered anywhere as such.

After all, it would be rather stupid of modern pirates to give themselves away by turning a known and tracked ship into the scourge of the shores of the smallest ocean.

They had been active around this area for several years already, and captain Agamata often found himself amused at how stupid people could be, not managing to identify them with all the fancy technology of today's world. Not that he had any complaints though - the business went perfectly well, there were plenty of safe harbors for such fellows as him and his men, and, generally, life was good.

And that ship over there had some quite expensive machine parts among its cargo, which they could surely sell for good money. So all that was left now was to take it.

"_Start aiming_," he ordered in an Indonesian dialect to an unkempt boatswain who was handling a mechanism that looked like a small, thin cannon, which actually shot out nothing but powerful hooks and cables. Boarding ships might have been so two centuries ago, but captain Agamata had always had appreciation for classics, plus it always worked out nicely. "_Make sure it doesn't fucking slide off. Tell the guys below to have a torpedo ready just in case_." He puffed out some smoke and looked through his binoculars intently. A bit more further... "_Get ready _-"

"_Captain_!" the sailor suddenly cried out, clearly surprised by something a great deal what was unexpected given he was a criminal.

The captain didn't look interested in whatever pathetic complains did the sailor have, even though his voice was now joined by two other sailors who also sounded at least...shocked. "_Lock target_!"

"_But sir, we can't _-"

"_Fire_!"

Nothing.

Only when a command was disobeyed in such an obvious manner, did the captain finally decide to check what the fuck was going on, and turned his face away from the binoculars, now eyeing his second-in-command, "_What is the meaning of this, Nebway? Will I have to choke a fucking bitch_?" he barked.

"_I said we can't shoot right now, captain_," the boatswain answered rather lazily but still with according respect, though he didn't seem scared at all. "_There's...a man hanging on the barrel_."

The captain stared at him. "_What kind of a fool do you take me for_?" he growled, finally turning towards the said cannon. "..."

There indeed was a man, clinging to the part of the gun tub that was now out of the ship's lines above the water, and quite effectively blocking the cannon's hole with his body as he obviously tried his best not to fall into the water, looking absolutely lost. The man was dressed in a British county gentleman fashion and had white hair, what made the captain immediately assume it was some old guy who decided he needed some spice of life before croaking it.

".._How the fuck did he get there_?" he asked dryly, pointing at the man with his finger without any thought about manners since he was, after all, a pirate. Did the guy jump from the cargo ship? That would mean they found them out, but- No. It was still too far away for that.

The boatswain shrugged, his look turning blank. "_He just appeared, captain. Out of the fucking air. As if falling from a plane or something. One second I had a clean fucking view, another - he's there clutching the thing for dear fucking life_."

"..._Okay_."

"..."

"..."

There was a rather long pause.

Well, unnecessary kills brought unnecessary trouble while hostages could sometimes pay off rather well. ".._Fuck, Nebway, get some men to take him off there and lock him downstairs. We've got a fucking job to do right now, we'll think about that guy later_."

::

Allen Walker had no idea what happened. They were fighting the Earl, and then something happened and they were pulled through this giant vortex thingy which almost, _almost _made him lose his appetite. And then there was some kind of - pop! - and then nothing.

And then he suddenly realized he was above a very huge amount of water with a floating object that had to be a ship next to him something sticking out of it, and without thinking he grabbed onto it, only then seeing it was some sort of a cannon barrel and paling slightly. Only then he realized how strange everything looked; the ship was made out of metal - how on Earth did it float? - and had no sails nor oars. What in the.. He saw a man at the other end of the cannon who looked just as surprised and confused as he was, and realized that _something_ probably went wrong.

And where were the others?

The man talked with another man who looked like he was in command in a strange language, Allen thought he had heard something similar somewhere but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. They were silent for a moment, then the captain barked a command, and the cannon barrel started moving back into the ship. On its own. It had to be magic. Still, at the moment Allen was more relieved than anything else; hanging there sure wasn't very entertaining.

"Can you please tell me where I am?" he called out towards the men, who stared back at him in even more shock than before. It was due to his voice and them realizing he was in fact young, and then brushing it aside as youth's crazy hair experiments, but of course he didn't know that. "I could use a little help here.."

_"..yeah, maybe around twenty_," the captain agreed. "_Also that sounds like English. Get Dharran, he speaks it well. Ask this fucking extremist some questions. For now, let's focus on our job at hand, lock him in the supply room in the meanwhile_."

The boatswain nodded and gave the command.

As soon as Allen's feet were above the deck, a pair of rather muscular sailors grabbed him by his arms and pulled him off the cannon, and then dragged him towards the door to below the deck. Huh.

"W-what's happening?" he protested as he was dragged unceremonously, of course he still didn't understand what was happening. "Hey! Please let go!" He was still so out of it that he didn't even think of trying to use his Innocence, and in moments he was locked in a tiny room all alone and distant voices on the deck were giving commands and cussing, apparently not giving a shit about him anymore.

Well, that was confusing.

Allen's face suddenly lit up as he realized there were shelves with supplies behind him, and the supplies were food in particular. And since he was already here, there was no point in starving himself to death, was there? He grabbed several of the closest cans, used his mutated arm's nails as an opened and soon enough was chewing on some tuna. Then another one, and another, then dried meat, then milk, then marinated fruits, then anchovies, then pudding, and everything else he could find. The weird journey left him a bit hungry, and by now he actually thanked the fate for sending him to this particular ship that had a nice amount of food.

When the pile of empty cans, wrappers and bones grew rather big and there was practically no food left, Allen placed all that was left into a bread to make a sandwich and, carrying it in his hand, finally took some time to examine his surroundings.

Even though most things seemed slightly different, he wasn't really shocked by anything until his gaze wandered onto a calendar. It had a shot of what had to be a city, with lights and incredibly tall houses, saying "Detroit Rock City Rules", and the year was...

2002.

Wait what. Wasn't it 18-something back when he was fighting the Earl? A joke? But the ship indeed was like one from the Science division's craziest fairytales. But if it was actually the year 2002... What kind of crazy witchery was this? More importantly, what happened to the others - and to Lenalee?

Oh, it was on now.

::

"_Captain, something's going on down there_," one of the sailors shouted as crashing could be heard below the deck and in moments a giant white claw emerged from the stairway booth.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" the young man boomed, not exactly the same polite and scared youth he was just minutes ago. Not to mention that he was also carrying a bag that seemed to contain remains of the ship's edible supplies. "WHAT IS THIS? WHERE AM I?" He actually looked quite intimidating, so a couple of sailors took out their guns and shot at him.

The white claw stopped the bullets as if they were made of paper and with playful flicks sent both of the sailors overboard, where they had to grab on the nets, ropes with underwear and other things that were floating in water after the ship, attached to it.

The captain didn't even notice how the cigarette fell out of his mouth and onto the deck. However the shock only lasted a moment, he was a motherfucking pirate leader and he wasn't going to let some supernatural freak run rampant on his ship.

"QUIT DEMOLISHING MY BOAT IF YOU EXPECT TO BE TALKED TO WITHOUT A BULLET BETWEEN YOUR EYES," he growled, taking out his own gun however, having seen what just happened, didn't shoot yet and simply took an intimidating posture, glaring down at the intruder and radiating all the authority he could muster.

It probably worked to some extent, as the albino man lowered the horrid mutation of an arm and headed towards him in an even pace. "You're in charge here?" he asked, now sounding civil again. "Who are you? What is this?"

Captain Agamata flashed his teeth at the guy. "Don't ask too many fucking questions," he suggested. Then again it didn't seem likely this particular guy would turn them in, but...you never know. "We're...not exactly businessmen, you see. But I can fucking tell you, this is my ship. Which you just demolished a fucking half of, and I expect a handsome batch of cash for that."

He immediately realized he mentioned something very, very wrong.

The moment he said the word 'cash' the albino brat literally darkened, his eyes gleaming unhealthy light, and his mouth curved into a wry smile. Not only that, he started cackling hollowly, emitting some kind of demonic aura, and the captain, brave man as he was, felt himself turning pale.

"CASH, YOU SAY?" the albino brat repeated in a low voice, making another heavy step forth. "OH, I DON'T KNOW. I THINK I LEFT MY WALLET AT THE LAST ESTABLISHMENT I WANDERED ONTO AFTER MY MASTER'S VISIT, BUT THAT BILL WAS WORTH TEN TIMES MORE THAN YOUR WHOLE SHIP. YOUR REQUEST FOR CHICKEN FEED OFFENDS ME, SO HOW ABOUT WE'LL JUST PRETEND THIS MEETING NEVER HAPPENED?"

As he talked, a white square portal-like thing sprung out of thin air behind his back. The captain didn't manage to say anything more and just stared, dumbfounded and actually frozen, as The White Devil turned away with the last cackle and walked into the portal, carrying away all of their food. The portal closed with a soft buzz, not leaving a mark in the clear southern sky, just air where it was moments ago, and shocked faces of the people who would later tell legends about The White Devil of the Southern Seas who is immune to bullets and carries away every edible thing on his way, and maybe people too.

When the captain could finally talk again, he only said one thing before rapidly digging into his cigarettes: "Of what happened here, never to nobody. Not. A. Word."

::

The Ark seemed different somehow.

Not that it shrunk or anything, but Allen entered a single room instead of the white town's street. And it wasn't the one with the piano. No, Allen was pretty sure he had never seen this place before. It was a royally decorated hall with statues and columns on the side, and a single huge door on the other end. It was closed with four locks, and above it all, there hung what looked like a giant hourglass, sand slowly spilling to its lower half, though there was very little in it this far.

The young man walked up to the door and tried opening it, both by force and by trying to play a melody in his mind, however nothing seemed to work. When he touched the door with his Innocence though, he heard a click and one lock fell off. He looked at it, surprised, but in less than three seconds it was back on the door without him ever noticing how it got there. What did this all mean?

He put his ear to the door, hopelessly trying to hear anything. At some moment he thought he heard breathing and a very familiar "O-ho-ho" laughter, though it could have been just his imagination. But as he stepped back and looked up, he spotted what looked like the Noah crest with a picture of a clock in the middle above it.

Was he being delirious or was the Millennium Earl trapped here in the Ark, the hourglass counting the time until his ultimate release and the repeated apocalypse of the new world? No, that was crazy. But why did he feel like he knew it? Almost if the Noah within knew exactly what was going on.. No, he mustn't give in to him, he needs to think of his own, even if this was true!

He tried inspecting the locks; each of the four had small winged figures that looked like grotesque angels carved into it, and he figured it was Innocence. The one that had previously fallen off had a picture of one that was made of two colours mixed together, darker and lighter. Another had two couples of wings. The third had a chain around it, and the last had what looked like a theater mask. Whatever all that meant, the number made it pretty clear.

Four Exorcists had battled the Earl for the last time, and four Exorcists have traveled here, wherever and whenever it was. Only the four Exorcists could finish it, and only all of the four could go back home, if that was even possible..

Allen stood still for a while, deep in thought. If that was God playing his usual tricks, this was a rather cruel one. But it had to mean the others were also here, somewhere here, somewhere in this world. And it seems it was up to him to find them and to end this once and for all.

Nothing he wasn't used to, right?

He bit his lip lightly, he really hoped everything was good with Lenalee. And the two idiots...well, they'd better be alright as well. Either way, the time wasn't waiting.

Allen turned around to the direction he previously came from and saw a small door with no sign. What meant it wasn't accurate, and that wasn't particularly good, but he had to take chances. Not like he had anything to lose right now. He tried to focus on a familiar location, opened the door and stepped through, dragging the snacks he was still holding with. He immediately felt warm air, heard birds singing, and something that sounded like an.. an elephant in the distance? This seemed too familiar, despite of all the time that had supposedly passed.

India. Home sweet home...in a sense.

::

* * *

::

Around seven months, ever since Allen went out of the wormhole, passed like the wind. By now the young man managed to get the basic hang of the world around him, even though many things still surprised him. He would wear gloves all the time as he learned that Innocence and its lookalikes were unknown to those people and drew unnecessary attention to himself. He would earn money through gambling, just like in the old days with Master - they were even further long ago than it seemed to him, apparently. He noticed that his body had changed slightly ever since he came into this world, now a bit taller and looking a little more mature though with no really significant differences, and he didn't think much of it. And he traveled around - India, Russia, France, Italy, journeys took so much less time in this time, - because he could never stop looking for others and especially Lenalee, longing for her, while there was the slightest chance she was somewhere in this world, and she had to be, because even if most things didn't seem logical nor didn't make sense, it was made clear by whatever forces that he needed the others, and they had to be spat out of the space-time-continuum-thing around a similar time, what meant he should be able to find them eventually.

Whatever it took.

But the world could be so confusing sometimes.

::

He searched up and down the Great Britain where he knew the Order HQ used to be, but once he finally got to the very place, there weren't even ruins left. There was a small village, and in its middle square there stood some kind of a memorial, which Allen immediately recognized as resembling the shape of the old HQ tower, and it had names engraved on it, though most were either rubbed off during the century or hidden by moss. However said names were listed as "National War Veterans, age XIX", and there was no mention of anything Exorcist - like.

It was still very touching though, and he spent quite some time just standing there in silence, staring at the names of the people who used to be right next to him, yet now they were all six feet under ground - cremated, probably, according to their traditions, and all most likely here under the memorial - and it's been decades. Nothing left of what used to be. Allen made sure to read all the names which were listed as "Killed in action" and "Died after the war", finding most of the people he used to hold close to himself, fighting back tears. He had gotten used to the thought, but seeing it right in front of his face made it all feel so fresh. At least somebody who managed to stay alive - maybe some Finders, maybe some scientists - bothered to help them not disappear from history..

He noticed another small listing, covered by moss, and scratched at it, uncovering words "Gone missing". His heart skipped a beat as he cleaned the stone below, uncovering the names.

_Cross Marian_. It was the first name there, and Allen suddenly felt uneasy. Traumatic childhood experiences or not, on some occasions the man had still proved to be family for him. Well, it wasn't the time to get sentimental over it.. He tried to cast the thoughts away as he continued scratching the moss off the small area. There were several names he couldn't recall, and then, right under Cross', there were four.

_Allen Walker._

_Lenalee Lee._

_Yu Kanda._

_Lavi (unknown)._

Allen stared at the names, the sound of his heart bumping loudly in his ears. Was it some kind of joke? Here he was, standing alive and well in front of a stone than branded him dead for over a hundred years.

Did this mean they never made it back?

Impossible. He was going to find them, all of them. They were destroying the Earl. He was Destroyer of Time. They would get back home.

::

Maybe this was just a mistake. Maybe things like this happened when time was being messed with. No need to dwell on it too much. Better focus on what's at hand.

For example, finding out more about the memorial.

He tried going around the village and asking about it. Nobody who lived nearby seemed to know anything about it nor pay any attention to it. To them, it was just a relic of some past inhabitants that used to live there before them, maybe a nice decoration which surprisingly survived the wars, and that was it.

However somebody had put a bouquet of flowers next to it. Which had completely withered by now, but it was clear they were here since more recently than a hundred years ago. Allen once again regained hope when he found it, and finally he managed to find a villager who was willing to talk to him.

She lived right next to the town square in a small cottage, and she was wearing surprisingly thick glasses which were strangely reminiscent of something, but Allen had told himself not to dwell on the past and just try and find out what he can, even using his charm if needed.

As it turned out, the woman didn't know very much, however when the white-haired guy asked her about visitors to the square's memorial, she livened up.

"Yes, yes, I remember," she said excitedly but a bit weakly at the same time, "Not too long ago, there were some visitors. Around three of them, I think. One was very scary. They asked me to tell about my grandparents and said they knew people whose names were written there. And one arrived again very recently. A very sweet lady, she was, but sad eyes. I asked her if she was looking for someone, but she said no." Her voice saddened a bit.

Allen held his breath. That definitely sounded like Lenalee. Was she here? Really? His journeys weren't in vain then! "When? When did they come?"

But the woman couldn't tell. "Not long ago," she just repeated. "I'm sorry, I had trouble with time ever since that experiment with a rat and-"

"Did they at least tell where they came from?" Allen's look was intense like never before and he clearly forgot to breathe right now. The woman frowned, trying to dig up something from her damaged memory.

"I'm afraid - wait, wait. I think so. The lady said she couldn't bear living here where...things happened. They...flied. Oh, I remember! America! Northern United States of America. Are you crying, young man?"

Allen bit his lip and shook his head, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. Seems this was an actual lead, even if not an accurate one. But at least now he knew they were alive. Lenalee was there, he knew it. Thank gods. She was there. "Thank you," he just said and managed a smile. "Thank you."

::

America was big, but it was also said to draw in all kinds of strangers. Maybe this was a good chance at last, Allen thought as he stared down into the water from a ship that granted him passage without wanting too find out too much about his identity. Nowadays it took very little time to travel between continents using giant metal birds with comfortable seats within their insides, however Allen couldn't bring himself to step into one, not just yet. He needed more time for such things. Definitely a lot has changed in the world as he knew it.

He got off at the outskirts of a city named New York, and once he reached it, he realized it was huger than anything he had seen before. And this was just one city.. Praying that his luck wouldn't force him into searching the whole USA, Allen stubbornly kept looking. He asked on the streets, soon realizing that it was futile with so many people, he tried giving posters into the newspapers when he got any money, he tried following the media - as much as he could afford - for any unusual happenings that could have signified the presence of Innocence and therefore one of his past companions.

Naturally, he only _really_ wanted to find Lenalee, though he knew he needed everyone if they should have any hope in finishing the Earl business, and they were, sorta, his friends, or rather, comrades. Ironically enough, the one he could put the most faith in to help him succeed with that, was Kanda. The samurai, stupid and ill-tempered as he was, would never abandon Lenalee in a place such as this world was unless he was killed, many times over, and he was also very unlikely to have the brain and subtlety to keep a low profile. So if there was a chance to find a lead by some article announcing a single man has broken a building, a dozen of cars and verbally assaulted the President's honor, that chance mostly depended on the Japanese Exorcist, no matter how much one wouldn't want to admit it.

Still, there was a chance he would run into Lenalee herself, too. It was only a bit over half a year since they got dropped off here, right? She should be also looking for him. He just had to keep his eyes open.

What was rather difficult, as everything around seemed to be out to get him. So many times he jumped watching the news or reading a paper seeing a Chinese girl, a redheaded man or a psychopath with long hair, and each time it turned out these were mere coincidences, and said people didn't have anything to do with this original team. Such moments were the most disappointing. And then there were also thugs and thieves, whom he had experience with however the new environment took time to get used to. On the first night Allen tried looking for lodgings, some hobo ran off with his wallet. Of course, after finding a casino complex, the young man solved the sudden money problem, but he also realized that he had to try as hard as he could not to be gullible if he wanted to last here.

And oh, he did.

Because he wanted to find Lenalee. More than anything.

::

Several weeks have passed since his arrival, and he was once again marching down a lively street towards one of the newspaper offices, when his attention was drawn to a screen on one of the skyscrapers - ah, skyscrapers, such a fitting name for those giant concrete monstrosities. He had seen such things before so it wasn't that shocking, and he had noticed this particular screen as well, although paid it no mind as it mostly had various commercials which he had no interest in going on. During his first months in the new world, he could get tricked by such things easily, but by now he had learned to ignore most part of it and only try to get something he actually needed. Like food. And getting enough money for food was already difficult.

This time however, he stopped and eyed the screen intently, similarly to how he had done a bunch of times before. He could have sworn he saw a flash of a redhead's face which he haven't seen before, and so he stood there waiting for the commercials to complete the cycle and start on the one which's glimpse he had just caught.

It only took a couple of minutes, and he saw it again.

A smiling, no, grinning face which was all too familiar, except for looking actually somewhat mature now. Red messy hair, completely covering the right eye of the man on the screen. The visible eye was of clear green colour and seemed a bit cold despite of the happy expression. The man looked to the mirror, his smile fading a bit as he touched his chin, then took a bright bottle and continued with a common males' morning routine, crowned by yet another beaming grin of contentedness, which was followed by some female Allen had never seen before walking up and giving the man a kiss on the cheek. White, flashing letters on the bottom of the screen said, "TIRED OF DRY SKIN? TRY MRS. PETERSON'S SHAVING CREAM! EASY TO WASH OFF! HELPS TO PREVENT SCARS! SOFTNESS AND AROMA ATTRACTIVE TO EVERY WOMAN!"

...What.

_LAVI?_

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::


	3. Colourful Lies

**AN:** Guess what, I'm still alive! I really shouldn't pick up multi-chapters, haha. Well. Better later than never, yes? I hope.

And now.. meet Lavi, the bastard! 8D

Comments are always welcomed~ It's what makes me continue despite of occasionally dying off the net. Ahahaha... sorry 'bout that.

::

::

**Chapter 3 : Colourful Lies**

::

...Wasn't it Exorcists' common realization to keep a low profile?

Well, apparently not anymore. Here one was, probably earning his living by having his face transmitted as a bait to buy local products for hundreds of fools. After seeing the same thing over again, there was no doubt left. It was definitely everyone's favourite immature brat of an Exorcist and nonsense of a Bookman, also known as simply Lavi. And just how did he manage to be.. _seen_ without even having a surname? Had he learned to lie again? Back in the day, he had trouble with that, especially around his friends. But surely, people change...

Not that it really mattered at the moment. Allen had finally found a decent lead directly to the others, and damn he was going to follow it, even if his lack of luck still made sure it wasn't Lenalee he found first. Well, whatever. He was still lucky to find one of them, plus Lavi _was_ sort of his best buddy back in the day, so it could have been worse. They hopefully had better luck and maybe have even stayed together. Lavi would definitely know where to find Lenalee, too.

Allen Walker barely avoided being run over by a truck as he ran across the street into the nearest media office.

::

"What do you mean you can't tell me?"

The secretary sighed in a rather annoying manner which couldn't be translated as anything else but an encouragement to go away. "Look, boy, do you have any idea how many people come here and ask us where this or that person lives? The fans, the stalkers, the terrorists, you name it. It is against our policy to provide such information. And especially if the person has appeared on the screens. I'm not even talking about the stars."

Allen barely kept himself from groaning. He tried to keep up the polite expression despite of starting to get frustrated, making sure his tone had the needed amount of pleading and firmness in it. "Come on, it's just a mediocre commercial! It's not like he's anything important or anything. I already told you I know the guy! His name is Lavi and -"

"If you know him, then you should know where he lives," the secretary stated and turned sideways from him, picking up the phone and starting to talk really fast into the horn.

Allen's cheek twitched.

This - this - this duffer! He wasn't used to this much of bureaucracy, not at all, he didn't even know what it is until he met it, and.. This was bad. Just what harm was sharing a tiny little bit of information about the living place of a red-haired idiot who advertised shaving cream of all things?

No, he wasn't going to leave it at that.

A grin slowly spread on his face.

"WHAT IS YOUR PRICE, THEN?" he asked in a low, dark tone as soon as the secretary put the phone down. Not quite the same polite and distressed boy that was here just moments ago, now he seemed to practically be _looming_ over the desk while emitting evil aura, and that was a little scary.

The secretary blinked, gaped, and leaned back in her chair for more distance from the strange and scary young man. "_Excuse_ me?"

"I NEED THAT INFORMATION," the strange and scary young man explained hollowly, not moving by an inch. "I WILL PAY FOR IT."

"What - you - you - you can't just _buy_ the free media! Please... _leave,_ this instant!"

The strange and scary young man thought otherwise. "ALL PEOPLE CAN BE BOUGHT. IT'S JUST THE PRICE THAT VARIES."

"..."

"So..." The young man was suddenly not all so strange nor scary again and stepped back a little, tilting his head with a lovely, sweet beaming smile. "How much?"

The woman just stared at him for a moment, then quickly looked around before turning back to him. "He _really_ is a small fry," she hissed. "So just five hundred and complete anonymity, and then _please_ just leave."

Allen nodded with the kindness of deeply understanding person, never ceasing to smile. "Most certainly~" He's emptied plenty of gambling spots' pockets by now, and yes, he did have the money right now, so he simply dug it out while the secretary scribbled something on a small piece of paper. Then she handed it to him, and he handed her the money, saluted with a very polite "Thank you" and left.

::

Back in the street, he folded out the paper and read the address with a small frown which disappeared as soon as he realized it was here in New York. His heart almost fluttered. Here he is, and just in a few hours he's going to see Lavi, good old bratty Lavi, and he is ought to at least have information on the others, if they're not all in the same place, that is.

And they should be. Unless something happened, but they weren't really the type to quarrel between themselves, though of course it sometimes happened. Not quite on the scale of how Allen and Kanda fought, at least. He was always surprised and a little irked at how well Lenalee got along with that grumpy bastard, but they _had_ known each other for the longest time out of the four, so it made sense. Besides.. it's not like it was a threat to him, though back in the day he used to get a bit jealous of Lenalee's attention. She wasn't really that close to Lavi, but they didn't fight, either, other than an occasional slap for certain comments. And Lavi and Kanda.. well, they had something weird about themselves, but most of the time they seemed to be on good terms too, with a bit of trashing and inanimate object abuse at Lavi's head every now and then.

Yes, they most likely stuck together like peanut butter on the brain.

Lucky day.

::

Or maybe not, Allen recalled as he knocked on the door for who knows which time. Maybe he wasn't home? That hope faded as soon as the door finally opened, a little bit due to whoever-was-behind-it carefulness, and an aged female face with glasses and gray hair in curls that clearly (and hopefully) didn't belong to Lavi showed.

"Yes?" she asked a bit business-like and at the same time as if she was going to pinch Allen's cheeks. "How can I help you, young man?"

The young man blinked a little and cleared his throat a bit awkwardly. Was this yet another example of how Lavi managed to talk old people into taking care of him? Wouldn't be all that surprising, really. But something just didn't seem right. "Uhm, good day, ma'am," he greeted, manufacturing his signature sweet smile just in case. "Is Lavi home?"

The woman eyed him a little suspiciously, and the next moment his worst fears got confirmed, as her reply was, "Who?"

Allen flailed a little bit. "I was told he lives here," he explained quickly as he sensed the door might close any moment now. "A red-haired guy about this height," he raised his hand over his head hopefully, "hides one eye and talks nonsensical things a lot. Don't you know him?"

Old lady seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Oh!" she cooed, lighting up as if just remembering something, "Yes, it might ring a bell. Plenty of students and artists have rented this apartment, you see, but now that you mention it... There was this.. _eccentric_ young man not too long ago, but he no longer lives here."

Allen's gradually more hopeful look - yeah, 'eccentric' now sounded like Lavi alright - died with the last four words. Huh? He moved out? So where was he now? He shook his head a little. "When did he leave?"

"Just a few days ago. See, my memory isn't what it used to be, young man."

Allen groaned. So he was just days late to finding Lavi right here. Why was it always his luck messing things up? "You wouldn't happen to know where he is now, would you?"

The woman shook her head, "I'm sorry, I have no idea, young man." She smiled reassuringly and raised a plate, "But here, have a cookie?"

Even in a situation like this, Allen Walker simply could not refuse such an offer, so when he had thanked the lady for her time and got back out into the street, he was carrying a full pocket of bisquit good. Surely, at the moment it wasn't really enough to cheer him up, but it was something, so he continued munching on it as he walked down the street aimlessly, pondering what to do next.

As he reached a corner, he stopped to toss another cookie into his mouth and grimaced a bit at the taste. It felt like he was chewing paper, really - wait.

Could it be?

He spat what had to be the paper out. No doubt, there was a fortune cookie mixed in between the old lady's bakings. And the paper, even though blended with crumbles rather neatly, was still readable.

And it said, _"Trust your intuition. The universe is guiding your life."_

Allen blinked. It didn't even make sense, not that fortune cookies were always meant to made sense anyway. He sighed and continued walking. Just in case though, he looked around, and then back at the paper, noticing there was also something on the other side of the paper and turning it over, not stopping.

It said, "_Changes are afoot_."

He scoffed a little bit, "Wha-" he started confusedly, before realizing there was nothing under his feet. "-aaaAAAAAAAH!" he finished as he flied down what just _had_ to be a sewer left open, and crashed into a pile of trash on a platform right next to a river of waste.

He managed to grip into the trash just enough to stop himself from tumbling into the stinking liquid, and sighed with relief.

And then he realized his nose was embedded into an open colourful magazine, a small paragraph about moving in and... that's right, Lavi's face next to a rather nicely looking building.

Allen jumped up, barely not falling backwards, and stared at the magazine, quickly reading. It seemed to be some useless local celebrity gossip journal, and this was a small section in one of the last pages that also accommodated a list of best poodel hairdressers and the magazine's editor's holiday photos, but nonetheless, it was there, announcing that "_Lavi, the well-liked commercial face, has revealed his new quarters as No.27 Glamour Lane, an apartment block favoured by promising actors and artists_."

Maybe it was a rather lucky day after all.

::

Allen took a deep breath as he stopped in front of the intercom, fixed into the massive fence surrounding the building. It was.. similar to a phone and golems, was it not? Nothing too hard about that~ He frowned a bit, he didn't know what number Lavi was staying on so he might as well try all of them. He had time to waste, after all. Especially when being this close.

The first few calls were either not answered or answered by someone else, but finally the someone on the other line apparently got tired and finally told him where a '_redheaded rascal' _lived, and so, Allen finally pressed the right call and waited.

It seemed to take ages, but finally there was a click on the other line and an all too familiar voice spoke, "Yeah?"

Allen practically jumped, a wide smile appearing on his face. "Hey, Lavi," he greeted. Finally. "Do you have a moment? It's me, Allen."

There was a long pause, and it made the warm bubbly feeling of friendship cool off just a little bit. Finally there was an answer, and, surprising as it was, it was a single word again. "Who?"

The white-haired boy scoffed a little. There was just no way Lavi would forget him, because, well, he didn't forget anything. Did he acquaintance more Allens during the year he's spent here? "Lavi, quit joking around," he said with a small laugh, though really he didn't find this funny. "It's Allen, Allen Walker." He grimaced a bit. "_Beansprout_." If it just helps Lavi recognize him, he can even tolerate that name, too.

The pause was even longer this time, and it definitely had to mean something was wrong. "Allen?" Lavi's voice finally repeated, sounding so disbelieving it almost hurt. "There's no - look, this ain't funny, 'lright? Who are you?"

Not as planned. Allen frowned more, was this some sort of a horrible joke or did his friend really not manage to comprehend he was there? Surely, they haven't seen each other for a whole year, but.. It wasn't that long of a time, was it? "What do you mean? I'm not joking." He stepped back from the fence and looked up at the building. "If you don't believe me, look through the window and see for yourself. It's me."

The other line didn't reply, and in a few moments Allen spotted a window on the fourth floor open and a very familiarly looking redhead peek down at the street. And, surely, the next moment he did spot the guy with shining white hair, and seemed to gape a bit, though it was hard to tell from this distance. "Allen?.." the redhead called out as if needing one final confirmation, but as soon as Allen raised his hand to wave at the other Exorcist, he was suddenly gone from the window.

And if that wasn't enough, the window slammed shut, and the next moment the curtains were drawn, while Allen just stood there, staring up and blinking. Talk about a warm welcome.. if it was Kanda, it would maybe make the tiniest bit of sense, but this was _Lavi_, everyone's self-proclaimed best buddy, and this wasn't at all what buddies did.

No, Allen was not having that.

He twitched a little, his look darkening, looked around to make sure nobody's attention was on him, and then Clown Belt latched at the just-closed window frame on the fourth floor.

The situation called for it, he thought bitterly, trying not to think this sort of a rash thing was more of a certain grouchy samurai's cup of tea, as he crashed into the apartment, the window obviously in need of a quick replacement. Someone needs to explain some things, and oh! there he is, dragging furniture towards the door leading to the stairs.

"Aieee!" Lavi shrieked, jumping up and letting go of a coffee table which he had just pushed at the door, it definitely looked like he was trying to barricade himself in the apartment before Allen broke in. Right now though, he just trotted past the white haired boy and stopped in front of the shattered glass, huffing, pouting, pulling at his hair and otherwise expressing deepest frustration. "I'll have to pay for that!" he finally whined. Allen's look turned slightly dumbfounded, but then Lavi finally noticed him as well and headed towards him, plastering on a wide smile though corners of his lips were still twitching. "So it really is you, huh, ya could've at least warned me or somethin', not fly crashin' through, yeah!"

Allen looked at him a little blankly, then slowly pointed at the table at the door with the same expression. "Lavi... what were you doing?"

Lavi's eyes darted to the table and then back to his fellow Exorcist. He really seemed nervous for some reason, and that was strange. "Oh, that." He gave a limp-wristed wave and rubbed his hands, grinning a little. "See, there's this guy who pretends ta be you, hair 'nd all, and he's stalked me for a while now, so I thought it was him again and just, ya know, freaked out a bit, so-"

Allen's suspicion kept rising. Something was not right, and Lavi definitely wasn't happy to see him, judging from earlier, and now this nonsensical babbling. But.. it all had to have a reason, right? He sighed. "Do you even believe what you're saying?" he asked and shook his head, frowning a little. Someone impersonating him would make no sense, but Lavi did seem somewhat tired, almost.. older than he should be, at that, so maybe indeed something was bothering him greatly. "What happened?"

Lavi paused, blinking a bit and pouting again at being caught like that, seems he's still kept his childish reactions to some things, despite of definitely looking more grown-up. His hair was spiked and fluffy, but some strands were brushed onto his face to hide his right eye completely. He was wearing a ridiculous pink sleeveless shirt and seemingly ball-crushingly-tight white jeans, had some bracelets and rings on, and generally looked a little more.. licked up than usual. Well, starring at commercials probably do that for you. The redhead shook his head a bit. (Even his hair seemed spikier and fluffier than before, what.) "Fine, fine," he grumbled, sighing, then smiled a bit again. "Really, sorry. I dunno what came over me. I guess I just thought Akuma would start crawling out of all corners the moment I saw you, yeah, haven't fought in a while and all that you see, not since we.. got here, and not too eager to either, so seeing ya made some memories return. No hard feelings?" He grinned a wide, sparkly smile which just had to buy all forgiveness and held his hand out.

Allen blinked. Oh, so he was considered to be the messenger of bad news and war now. So... not nice. But it kind of made sense in the context, so as long as it was past them, he figured there was no harm in forgiving it. No need to tell Lavi right away that they're still supposed to finish the war remains from like two hundred years ago, nope. "Sure," he said, smiling brightly like the true prophet of peace, love and muffins, and shook the offered hand.

And was pulled into a surprise hug, letting out a small surprised squeak.

Lavi snickered lightly, squeezing Allen a bit before finally letting go of him but keeping his hands on his shoulders. "Missed you, squirt," he cooed, eyeing him up and down. "Wow, you sure haven't changed, so young and all."

The white-haired boy blinked again. "It's just been a year," he reminded carefully. Well, that was definitely more like the redhead he knew, but.. it was a little sudden. As if it had taken Lavi some time to.. get back into the way he normally acted, however that was possible. Somehow, it still wasn't comfortable like it should be if everything was just back on track.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but before answering, the redhead's eye seemed to stiffen for a moment, almost as if coldly weighting and calculating his options of whatever it was, right before reverting to normal. "Yeah, right," he agreed cheerfully. "Felt longer ta me, tho' I guess shit happens, ya know, I missed ya so much it felt like _aaaaages_ passin' by, yeah?" He continued smiling, and for a moment Allen wondered if his own fake smiles were this obvious, too. "At least we're here now, aren't we! I'll get some coffee." He all too eagerly trotted towards where the kitchen supposedly was, glancing over his shoulder as he probably figured it was no reason to stop the conversation. "So what you've been up to?"

"Not much," Allen mumbled as he took a seat on a checked couch which smelled of second-hand shops and catnip. "Looking for you guys, mostly. Odd jobs here and there, you know the drill." He smiled reassuringly, something in the back of his mind insisting that Lavi was skilfully and subtly steering the conversation away from _himself_ for some reason. "What about you?"

"Ah, not much either," Lavi cooed from the kitchen with a small handflail towards him that reminded of Jerry's manners a bit too much. "Tryin' ta earn some cash using m'talents, 's'all.~"

He poured two cups of coffee and returned to the living room, wearing a practically shining smile, sparkles of magnificence included.

"But ain't that mostly what you do too, kiddo?"

The something in the back of Allen's mind got louder. He tried to return the smile by beaming back at the redhead. "Certainly, I do have talents of my own, Lavi," he reassured innocently, but Lavi seemed to nervously lean backwards a bit for a moment. "I can't help but wonder though, just by what means did you manage to make your face known this quickly?"

Lavi's expression never changed, "My, not tha' quickly at all, but I do admit I've... superior powers of adapting, yeah. Me got no problem bein' stuck here, y'know? Felt a'home after a few weeks at most, yeah, marvellous, isn't it?" He twirled his dessert spoon in his coffee, holding it with two fingers while stretching the others up as if showing off his rings, then licked it off and almost gallantly placed it on the plate before picking up the cup, his pinky finger sticking out in a manner that wouldn't shame any old British lady, and took a sip. "Just look here, nice apartment, friendly people, fabulous fame n' all that, doesn't come to just anyone, yeah?"

Allen decided to try and not focus on the strange little quirks too much, but he still kept in mind that it looked a bit off. For now though, he just nodded politely as a thanks for the offered cup and focused on it instead. For a while. It was strangely sweet, not that he complained, but he had to wonder if there was more sugar or actual coffee in the drink. "You don't happen to have something to eat, do you?" he asked soon enough, looking a little concerned. Lavi's smile fell a little.

"Ah, about that. Yeah. 'm afraid I don't really have anythin' you'd like, unless, you know, you're into meat salad and diet coke 'cause that's it for m'belongings in the fridge."

The white haired boy already opened his mouth to say that he'd accept just about _any_ kind of food, but then realized that he in fact had enough money to get something decent without having to empty Lavi's resources that from the looks of it would have to last him for a while. So he shook his head. "Ah- don't worry about it." He looked puzzled for a moment. "What I really want to ask.. how are the others doing?"

Lavi's smile took a bit longer than could be expected to appear again. "Oh, they're... fine," he reassured and leaned back into the couch. "You know how Yu's like, and Lenalee's been faring surprisingly well given that, you know, you weren't here." He waved a bit. "I haven't talked with either of them in a while though, y'know, this place makes ya grow apart a bit. Not like we need to fight anymore or anythin'." His look turned almost inspecting for a moment, as if he expected Allen to jump up and announce a war, but as nothing happened he seemed relieved.

"But.. you still know where to find them, right?" Allen inquired with a small frown. It didn't make sense for them to just go their own merry ways upon popping up in an unfamiliar place and time, after all. Why would they? Well, at least hearing they were 'fine' was a bit of a relief. "I- I really need to see Lenalee, she's probably worried, don't you know where she lives?"

"I'm afraid not," Lavi said almost regretfully and smiled guiltly at Allen. "Yeah, we stuck together at first, but things change, you know? Do meet up sometimes, I think _they_ still do, but I haven't seen her in a while now. Busy n' all."

"But -"

"Really, Allen, I have no idea where you can find Lenalee," Lavi persuaded, widening his eyes a bit with fake genuinity and waving his hands. "Haven't heard from her in _months_. We were never exactly _close_, anyway."

Right then, his cellphone rang, and he sweatdropped a little.

"Your trousers are ringing," Allen stated blankly.

Lavi blinked. "Oh. Yeah, it's my mobile. ..A kind of a modern phone," he explained. "Excuse me..." He took it out and put it to his ear, grinning widely. "Yes! Lavi the Adorable Sexbomb is liste -"

"YOU SELFISH BUM!" Quite positively furious female voice exploded from the mobile and echoed in the room, she was clearly shouting into the phone on her end. Lavi grimaced, nearly dropping his cellphone and now holding it away by his arm's length as if it was poisonous. "YOU CALL YOURSELF HIS CLOSEST PERSON? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO LOOK AFTER HIM? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID THIS TIME?"

"Geez- I'm _not_ calling myself anything anymore! Calm down, Lenalee, I just -"

Allen widened his eyes, freezing for a moment in shock. Lenalee?.. That voice... It was more mature now, and the words were rather harsh and the tone angry, but there was no doubt. He wouldn't mistake that voice for anything, that lovely, lovely voice ringing in his ears ever since they were forced to part... What was she talking about, though?

Meanwhile, the verbal battle continued. "WELL, GUESS WHAT, HE ASKED ME TO KEEP A HOLD ON THE SWORD, BECAUSE HE ALMOST SOLD IT TO AN IRON MERCHANT YESTERDAY. MUGEN, LAVI. HIS MOST PRECIOUS THING. WHERE WERE YOU, LETTING HIM REACH SUCH A STATE?"

"Look, I haven't even seen him for _weeks_ -"

"WELL, THAT EXPLAINS SO MUCH! IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S GOTTEN LIKE THIS. THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY AND TAKE CARE OF HIM! ... ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?"

Lavi grimaced, glancing at Allen, then cooed "Sorry, love, must be wrong number but call me once you calm down" at the mobile before frustratedly looking for the button to end the call.

"LAVI, DON'T YOU _DARE_ -"

"Wait, Lavi, is it really Lenalee -"

Too late, Lavi had already hung up. Now he was scratching his head rather awkwardly and looking like he'd gladly disappear right through the floor.

"Uhm... there actually is a _very_ good explanation..."

Allen, however, despite of utter confusion on what was going on, couldn't help but feel his evil side bubblingly emerge into the surface.

"HAVEN'T HEARD FROM HER IN MONTHS, HUH?" he chuckled darkly, giving Lavi a glare and causing him to start backing off with a small squeak. "NO IDEA WHERE TO FIND HER?"

"Calm down, Allen!" Lavi cried, waving his hands a bit. "So, um, yeah, she calls me, but I didn't want to tell you because we kind of had a.. falling out... and I _really_ don't know where she lives!"

"HOW WOULD I KNOW? WHY DON'T WE COUNT HOW MANY TIMES YOU'VE LIED IN THE PAST COUPLE OF HOURS?"

Lavi rubbed his head and raised his hands in surrender. "It was innocent!" he insisted. "Come on, Allen, stop creepin' me out."

The devil named Allen beamed sweetly however continued approaching. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," he reassured, pulling his gloves on more firmly, "That is, as long as you tell me- " suddenly he silenced and blinked, turning his head towards the hallway as there was a click in the lock.

Then a crash and some swearing.

"Lavi, you maggot, what the hell do you think you're doing? Why is there a fucking table on the door? I pay _half_ of your fucking rent and you try to barricade me outside?"

Lavi jumped up with his eyes widened and sprinted into the hallway. "I'm sorry!" he cried. "I didn't know you'd come back early!"

"Were you _hiding_? Don't pull the _flying spaghetti monster coming to take away your libido_ excuse again, or I'll cut it off myself and feed it to the piranha!"

"Eeep! Hey! Calm down, will ya? I said I'm sorry!"

Allen frowned a bit and sneaked towards the hallway as well. The voice seemed a little higher, but the manner of speech and threats seemed awfully familiar. Not to mention... it didn't sound all as fancy and friendly as Lavi had portrayed his surrounding people at all.

Or maybe the redhead was just forever cursed to be the bitch.

Oh, and there was someone with long black hair shaking Lavi by the collar before planting a shoe in his gut and sending him crashing onto the floor in a rather comical manner. Could it be -

"Ka-"

"And you are?" the person cut him off, turning back towards Allen, and he blinked a bit, taking a step back. No, it wasn't Kanda. Not even close. In fact, it was a woman, no mistake about it. Green eyes, long black and now that he looked at it, slightly wavy hair. That explained the voice, though it _was _a bit lower than most females'. And her clothes weren't feminine at all, that was probably what confused him the most.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I thought you were - someone else."

"Answer the damn question, shrimp." Well, that was friendly.

Lavi weakly lifted a hand and pointed at Allen. "He's just my old friend," he explained in a somewhat trembling tone and then motioned at the woman. "Allen, this is Samantha, one of my flatmates and friends."

Samantha eyed Allen skeptically for a few moments with her arms crossed. "Wow, your taste sure changes quickly," she decided, then turned and glared down at Lavi, him cowering a little under that scary look. "My girlfriend's coming over tonight, and I _don't want to be interrupted_." With that, she was gone behind one of the doors, slamming it shut after her.

There was a silence.

"Your... taste?" Allen finally repeated blankly, giving Lavi an explain-this-please look, because he honestly wasn't going to break his brain over personal lives of Lavi's roommates. For the moment he seemed to forget their own quarrel though. "Are your other _friends_ like this, too?" There were two more rooms, one probably Lavi's; one's door decorated with pink ornaments and some guy's photos and the other's had a poster on, displaying what was, supposedly, a man in a ridiculous leather attire. No, Allen really didn't want to know just what kind of people were living here. Lavi picked himself up from the floor and waved a little.

"Oh, don't mind her, she didn't mean anything by that. She's had a rough week at work." It was clearly a lie. He always said that when Kanda beat him up, too.

Allen gave him a meaning look. _And I think you have a craving to be abused because you always stick around this kind of people_, he wanted to say but decided against it. "So the money's tight?" he asked instead and motioned around aimlessly. "I mean, sharing the apartment and all. You lied, haven't you?" Apparently he couldn't even pay his rent. That was.. sad.

Lavi blinked a bit at him then sighed, his smile finally disappearing. He actually looked _tired_, even his full-of-gel hair seemed to droop down a little. "Yes," he finally mumbled and slowly headed back towards the couch, Allen following and looking concerned about the sudden display of depression. "Yes, it is. I'm not really doing that well." He sat down and layed his head on the back of the couch, running his hand through his hair a bit exasperatedly. "Sorry. I wanted you to believe I was successful."

Allen frowned and sat down next to him. "Lavi, I don't _care_ how successful you are, you're still my friend," he reassured. This was.. practically a sad sight, really. Did this time really get to him this much? During the year, Allen managed to grasp that here most people's value was based on how much they earned a month, but he didn't think that was all there was to it.

Lavi nodded a bit, his look remaining somewhat blank. "And you're still you," he mumbled, smiling a little bit, this time genuinely. "You're actually making me feel bad." He laughed silently.

"So no more lies, alright?" Voice firm but gentle, exactly the way when you want to persuade someone about something they're against. Oh, he had experience with this. Even robots. "We all need to be in one place again, I'm sure you understand that."

The redhead nodded again. Oh, he understood it. That was how similar things were believed to work, and there was no reason for it to be otherwise. They got spiralled through time all together, so whatever it was that needed completing had to be done by all four of them, as well. Oh, but that was a different task whatsoever. The war might never start again. He barely kept himself from grinning a bit at the thought, but Allen didn't seem to notice.

"Where is Lenalee?" Silent but meaning.

"I already told you, I don't know," Lavi mumbled and looked right at Allen's eyes, though his right one seemed to be closed under the hair. He smiled a little bit. "But Yu does."

Well, isn't this a surprise. "_Kanda_?"

"Yup. And_ I _know where to find _Yu_, so it's all good, right?" The wide, toothy, Lavi-ish smile was back in place. With extra sparkles, even. You could really believe everything was just _peachy_. "You're gonna gather us all in no time, squirt.~"

"It's Allen." Something about it seemed fishy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Are you keeping anything else from me?"

"Nope~ Completely honest this time 'round, squirt."

::

As Allen headed back into the street after gracing Lavi with some money to at least manage his own expenses, he felt somewhat saddened. Surely, it was great. He saw the redhead again, got a track on others, yet... yet he hadn't expected they would change this much. All those little things, that pretending, that chase for glamour, it just didn't sit in right.

Lavi had always struggled for the right to be honest with those he cared about the most. In the end, he didn't even manage to be honest with himself.

It was sad.

Maybe all of them getting together again would fix that, too?

::

He stopped and checked the address in the sheet of paper again. Yes, that was right. According to Lavi, this was where he was supposed to find Kanda, '_especially between six PM and one AM_', but it made no sense. It made absolutely no sense for someone like Kanda to ever be in a place like this, unless he was on a task to cut someone up. So for a few moments, he just stood there in front of the door and stared at the signboard which implied this was the most horrible hole in several mile radius, trying to connect the ends but failing.

No.19 Dunger Alley was a _bar_.

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::


End file.
